BVN-Generated NIN, Invalid Without Update, NIMC Insists

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has warned Nigerians not to depend on the National Identification Number (NIN) generated during the Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration as it is invalid until updated at the NIMC enrolment centre.
NIMC made this known via its Twitter handle, yesterday.
The commission made the clarification amid confusion caused by the use of short codes to generate the NIN.
Some Nigerians had claimed that they had not visited any NIMC enrolment centre, they got a NIN after their BVN registration.
But MIMC urged the Nigerians to ensure that they go to any NIMC enrolment centre for an update.
The tweet read, “NIN generated by the BVN can only be used after it has been updated at the NIMC enrolment centre. You must complete your NIN registration even if your BVN has generated a NIN.
“If your NIN was generated due to BVN record harmonisation with the National Identity Database, you will not have access to the NIMC mobile APP and your NIN-SIM integration will be invalid.
“Kindly visit an enrolment centre to complete your NIN”, the tweet added.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government had declared on December 15, 2020, that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.
But on Monday, December 21, 2020, it extended the December 30, 2020, deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement.
The government gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020, to January 19, 2021.
It also gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020, to February 9, 2021.
According to the NIMC, as of October, the total number of mobile network connections was 207.58 million, but currently, only 43 million Nigerians have NIN, thus, 164 million telephone users were at the risk of being deactivated on December 31.